When people hear the name “Habitat for Humanity,” they usually envision volunteers donned with hardhats, swinging hammers and raising walls.

While it is true that Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County (Habitat) utilizes volunteers to build its homes, it is now also true that Habitat is building homes in a new way.

During the winter of 2013-14, construction on Coopers Run was thrown nearly eight weeks behind schedule because of an extended stretch of wintery weather that went on for weeks, which not only wreaked havoc on productivity, but created a host of other issues.

“Every time it snowed, it took us three days to dig out,” said Michael Synczyszyn, Habitat’s Director of Construction Operations. “And it doesn’t matter if we get only two inches out at the site, it’s treacherous.”
Synczyszyn is referring to the threat of slips and falls, tools that didn’t work properly, battered materials and cancelled volunteer outings at the site of the recently completed development of seven new townhomes in Wilmington’s north side.

“Everything struggles in the cold weather,” said Synczyszyn. “Even your bones. It’ll beat you up.”
Synczyszyn says that, for an organization that operates year-round, prolonged interruptions in construction work can be costly.

Since late 2012, as a way to combat the unpredictable, Habitat has been exploring the use of modular built homes as a way to not only curtail the instances of weather-related interruptions, but provide another building option for the same cost without adding staffing.

After considering a total of three modular-home builders, Habitat entered into an agreement with Beracah Homes, Inc., to build five of its homes—four in Middletown and one in New Castle.

“In order to increase efficiency, it was important to find a company willing to observe our process rather than try to reinvent it,” said Synczyszyn of the selection process.

Habitat CEO Kevin Smith added that working with modular homes also allows the organization to be an even better steward over the dollars the community gives.

“This is another way to serve more families with the dollars we have without the need to increase staffing and overhead,” Smith said. “We’ve looked at the cost of doing this, and if it would have been more to build than normal, we wouldn’t have done it.”

Beracah Homes, Inc. is a modular-home construction company specializing in custom-designed homes and light commercial projects.

Located in Greenwood, Del., Beracah characterizes itself as “a pioneer in ‘off-site, stick-built’ construction” and began production in the former Nanticoke Homes factory in 2003.

“I was very excited that Habitat approached us,” said Roger Collison, CEO of Beracah Homes. “I know their methodology is to use a lot of on-site labor and volunteers. The process of building modular homes can assist them in doing it faster, better and cheaper.”

A visit to the company’s factory off U.S. Rt. 13 revealed a massive, indoor assembly line that begins with a wood-cutting station, transitions to a team of workers framing and installing drywall and ends with a variety of finish work—“all competed while adhering to same construction codes and guidelines as traditional, on-site builds,” Collison said.

“People are always surprised when they go into the plant,” said Collison. “They really don’t have a good picture of what a modular home looks like or what a Beracah home looks like.”

According to Collison, Beracah reportedly shut down production just one day last winter because of bad weather and, Collison said, that was because the governor had declared a state of emergency.

Synczyszyn calculated taking the modular approach to building homes to be comparable to what Habitat has been spending to build with its traditional approach and anticipates a quarter of future projects will be completed this way.

While modular construction is efficient in many ways, Synczyszyn says this approach would not replace the organization’s need for volunteers.

“Habitat is volunteer organization whose mission is to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope,” he said. “We just want to be a good steward of the dollars the community gives us and to serve as many families as possible. [Building modular homes] is another way for us to accomplish this part of our mission.”

By Yasheaka Oakley

Sunless skies couldn’t dull the excitement and anticipation created by the long-awaited Walnut Ridge Groundbreaking Ceremony.

The Wednesday, March 25 event opened with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County’s Board President Noreen Poole welcoming a crowd of almost 100 supporters to the ceremonial start of the $1.5 million development of nine new townhomes on Wilmington’s Eastside.

“This isn’t the first time that we have built homes in Wilmington’s East Side,” Poole said. “Just 10 years ago we completed the Hope Run development not far from here.”

“This project and the other 224 homes we have built in the New Castle County area would not have been possible without the support of generous donors and sponsors like Bank of America, which donated this land to become the future home of nine families, ” she added, speaking from the future home site at the 1400 block of Walnut Street.

In addition to the land donation, Bank of America also provided an $85,000 grant for construction.

“Our comprehensive approach connects our philanthropy and the passion of our employee volunteers to support affordable housing and community revitalization,” said Chip Rossi, Delaware market president, Bank of America. “Nothing is more foundational to a family’s financial well-being than access to affordable, stable housing and our support of Habitat for Humanity will continue to make a lasting impact for local families.”

Joining Rossi at the groundbreaking were more than 25 Bank of America employee volunteers, who have committed 2,015 volunteer hours to the Walnut Ridge project.

Rossi added that Bank of America’s team of employee volunteers is excited to support yet another construction project “and to fulfill these families’ dreams by providing them with a sense of community.”

Pastor Jerome Lewis of Seeds of Greatness Bible Church blessed the occasion, calling the groundbreaking, “the breaking forth of a dream” as he set the stage for the diverse cross section of government, community, religious and business leaders who also spoke at the event.

“DSHA is really proud to be a partner in this project,” said Anas Ben Addi, Director, of the $270,000 in funds his office committed to the development. “What we love about habitat … is they just don’t come in and implant new housing in a neighborhood without taking into consideration what’s going on around the neighborhood … they approach it as a community involvement piece.”

Prospective Walnut Ridge homeowner Jennifer Kelly shared how what she called a “wink” from God paved the path to her opportunity for homeownership.

“God’s wink brought me here today to share with everyone my personal meaning,” said Kelly, “Habitat means I get to start anew, fresh and from the beginning. It means that God is giving me another chance to offer complete security and stability for my three children.”

To demonstrate Habitat for Humanity’s mission to put God’s love into action, CEO Kevin Smith invited leaders from of Habitat’s partner churches to donate bibles to be placed in the foundation of each new townhouse and gifted to homeowners when their homes are completed.

“We approached the churches, whose foundation is Jesus Christ, to partner in this project so that the foundation of these families will rest on the Lord,” he said.